Mary Crossan | You don’t need a suit to be a suit

Ivey professor Mary Crossan speaks on a recent survey done by CareerBuilder.ca, saying it’s not just what you wear that matters. It’s also about your strength of character.

Crossan points out that focusing on leaders’ sense of style should be a non-factor in examining who they are and what they stand for.

“The nuclear arms escalation on the type of cars, suit, shoes, purses that somebody might have is absolutely inconsistent with a lot of what leaders value and think is important.”

While first impressions do matter, Crossan advises leaders to overlook these external factors and instead focus on strength of character, authenticity and integrity – or as Crossan puts it, “the real horsepower for leaders.”